Hello,

I am interested in anything people can tell me on herringbone floors, how long it usually takes as well as what you may charge per square foot, any information would be great.

thanks
Derilyn

Double time and money

Check the photo gallery here, some great picture of a herringbone floor, and how it was installed.

Yea, I wish we had more details on that one Steve. There's also some information and pics from Ken Peirson at this page link

Chuck Coffer was also involved in that job. I've only handled a few herringbones in my time. Layout is critical. Installation rates? I'd like to hear more on the subject too. Last time I handled one I think it was only $ 3.50 square foot--but that's Florida labor for ya.

Ken should have asked me to proofread the article before he submitted it. That was cypress, not pine. Goodwin sells both. hoho

He did a great job, otherwise. That was one of the simpler things he and I did down there.

CHU

There is more than one way to bone a herring.

If you are dealing with 24in pieces,you can make good time. If you are working with 12in stuff, you are in for a tedious job.


Layout is critical. You must do your layout with the sides in mind.

The "New York" style of herringbone removes alot of the math work while looking about the same after completion. You still have to figure your diagonal width using a calculator,but it is a much more forgiving direction style.

If you can remember that the hypotenuse of a 45 triangle is equal to the side times 1.414(sq root of 2),you can figure it out purty easy.

Gluing herringbone is easier than nailing it.

I never price that kind of work according to footage. It is a sure fire way to screw yourself.


CHU

It is actually reasonably simple, and if you know how to handle wood and glue it should be even easier.

Couple pointers:
- install in length first, not width;
- the precision of the central column is critical;
- start in some sort of a closet/wadrobe -- to get handle of it;
- plan to install highly visible areas in one go -- you have some time to correct adjacent pieces and deal with inevitable gaps -- you can often spread them out -- 2 mil gap is visible, 2 mil gap spread across 4-5 pieces is not;
- try to layout so that when you come to the edges you have pieces of reasonable size;

When layout goes wrong (it most likely will):
- it is wood after all -- if you screw you can always cut narrower pieces -- takes some time but works fine;
- do not force it -- if you feel that something is not right -- stop and analyse and find the root cause;
- i often found that, even thought you might not be able go back and correct the original cause, you can cut few boards to recover layout;

I think the advantage of herringbone is that it does not have any straight lines -- so it is very forgiving layout. You can have a runout of couple centimeters in 5 meters and still will not be able to detect it with a clothed eye, only by using a measuring devices.

Any questions -- just ask, I am not a pro, but recently installed 240 SQM (~2400 SQF) with a quite reasonable result, thus I feel I can offer some help.

Regards,
Alexei

I wish I could get another chance to glue square edged sticks to the floor.

Gravy.

Thanks Alexei. Many very good points!



That's something I always looked for. Looks pretty cheesy when you have pieces that are 3/4" on one wall and the opposite wall they may be a full four inches. If you're dealing with one room it's fairly easy, but imagine the layout Alexei did.

Ken,

Do you think I followed my own advice?

Downstairs I just choose the central line, so that it looked symmetrical to the entrance door and corners of the opposite window and laid from there.
Anyway it is reasonably large, so you have to walk from one wall to another to see any detail, so I considered it not an issue.

In a smaller rooms I did try to make sure that I did not have any tiny pieces, but mainly to simplify cutting in borders -- small bits do not glue properly and chip easily.

Herringbone looks so busy that it takes a concentrated and conscious effort to distinguish details like this.

a